Eldritch Horror Theatre

’Hmph, did you really think this professor title was just for show?’

Inside the rather unorthodox Laboratory, Fu Qian stood with his hands clasped behind his back. For a moment, it was utterly silent.

Professor Lisa might be handling the vast majority of the work for their collaborative project, but his earlier words still stood.

Apocalypse was a proper Scientific Research Institution, after all.

Veterans like him and Cass might lack the time and energy to personally work the front lines, but they could still help provide the necessary research conditions. More importantly, they could always spare a moment from their busy schedules to offer high-level, visionary guidance.

Or, in layman’s terms: spouting pretentious, empty talk.

Professor Lisa’s reaction proved exactly that.

The premise of his earlier statement had been pitched so high that it couldn’t be called wrong, yet it wasn’t something she could immediately praise as brilliant either. Caught in that awkward middle ground, she was left stranded in silence.

”Just a sudden thought. We’re still a long way from proving it.”

Fortunately, Professor Fu was a genuine academic. He hadn’t lost the core quality of letting facts speak for themselves. He quickly broke the silence, making it clear this was still just a hypothesis.”I’ve stumbled across quite a few unusual things lately, especially regarding ancient history.”

Before Lisa could say anything, he confidently pressed on.

”It seems the first unavoidable subject in all this is the concept of a Natural-Born Deity.

”Of course, there are far too many secrets hiding behind that to make it a formal research topic right now. But I was thinking—could your current work serve as a small piece of that puzzle?”

Never lacking in earnest expectations, Fu Qian casually elevated Professor Lisa’s work to the very pinnacle of mysticism.

”Setting aside their origins for a moment, assuming such a higher entity really was born from the void, what would this world look like through their eyes? Would anything actually frighten them?”

......

”Being replaced...”

As it turned out, Professor Lisa’s comprehension was up to par.

Faced with the academic guidance of the former interim spokesperson, she went through a brief internal struggle before finally concluding he wasn’t joking.

When she spoke again, Lisa seemed to have fully caught up to his train of thought.

”A peer wielding the same mighty power is certainly terrifying, but latecomers treading the very same path are the greatest threat... But that requires a premise. It means that whenever a ’God’ emerges, a Divine Path must also exist.”

Here, the sheer power of that elevated perspective showed its worth. Earlier, she had faintly treated this as a simple jigsaw puzzle. Now, as Professor Lisa spoke, a hair-raising sense of epic scale seeped into her words.

”Exactly, which is what we were just discussing... And I think we can hold off on considering the reasons for now. Let’s make proving this point the core objective of the project’s next phase. We can tentatively call it the First Law of Mysticism.”

Fu Qian nodded, deliberately emphasizing that mysticism was a massive undertaking, and she only needed to worry about her specific piece of it.

The First Law...

”It’s certainly a unique idea. But what if we ultimately find out we’re just overthinking things?”

The sheer arrogance of that name left Lisa speechless for a long moment. When she finally spoke, she still favored a more cautious approach.

”I only had this thought because I’ve actually witnessed some suspicious phenomena. The relationship between a higher entity and the Divine Path might be far more abstract than we imagine. I’ve even felt like I’ve caught a glimpse of some of the world’s underlying logic through it.”

Showing no dissatisfaction, Fu Qian patiently explained.

When it came to establishing a new project, it was always up to the leadership to act as a gatekeeper. That was a responsibility.

And the examples he was referring to weren’t just pulled out of thin air. In the mission he had just completed, the dynamic between the righteous one and The Redeemed One was obviously very thought-provoking.

Even earlier, there was the Pseudo-God Ritual—an example he had experienced firsthand.

”...But that still requires a fundamental premise. We have to assume a higher entity can actually be born out of thin air.”

Given both his current strength and his past track record, Professor Fu’s words carried undeniable persuasive power. Watching her frown in deep thought, he could already sense Professor Lisa being swayed.

However, before ultimately accepting the suggestion, she still hadn’t forgotten that other concern.

”Don’t worry, I’m even more certain of that.”

Professor Fu’s response was delivered with domineering confidence.

He didn’t even have to look far for proof—he had recently just met the Witch, a Natural-Born Deity.

”Alright... Going forward, I’ll do everything in my power to find proof of this ’First Law.’”

At this point, Lisa seemed to finally make up her mind, her expression solemn as she surveyed the heavily laden table before her.

”Excellent. But for now, we might as well stretch our imaginations a bit further and continue with the topic of ’the fear of being replaced.’”

However, Professor Fu’s routine meetings were clearly never that easy to get through, and he quickly signaled for her to continue expanding her imagination.

”Put yourself in their shoes. If you discovered that kind of threat, what would you do?”

......

Paying attention to the imagination of the youth was never just lip service for him.

In truth, these were things Fu Qian had already been sensing for many days.

But the idea of examining the problem from a top-down perspective really had been inspired, to a certain degree, by this little project Professor Lisa was leading.

He had long ago commented that a special place like the Bone Spirit Realm might be a pure and intuitive Godhood Sequence model, making it very suitable for representing certain concepts.

And the logical chain Lisa had managed to untangle from it was ultimately linked by Fu Qian to the very pinnacle of the Transcendent path.

”I’d try to eliminate the threat, of course.”

True to her past experience as a Transcendent creature, Professor Lisa possessed a sensitivity and decisiveness regarding safety and danger that far surpassed any ordinary human’s.

”There’s really no other choice. You can’t gamble on someone else’s ambition. Relative to the long lifespan of a higher entity, even the most exceptional circumstances have a probability of occurring.”

Perhaps realizing her response sounded a bit too much like the law of the jungle, Lisa quickly added that follow-up to soften her stance.

”Reasonable enough. So how would you eliminate them?”

Clearly, she had underestimated Professor Fu’s open-mindedness. He simply gestured for her to speak freely.

”Directly kill them? Considering their control over this sequence, it should be entirely feasible.”

Receiving his encouragement, Professor Lisa’s answers grew even blunter.

”What else?”

As expected, Professor Fu nodded without batting an eye.

”Set up roadblocks to their advancement? Like hiding away the essential elements they need to progress?”

Living up to expectations, Lisa quickly came up with a new idea.

”Good. Anything else?”

Yet Professor Fu continued to encourage her.

”And... maybe establish a stable system?”

This time, Lisa thought for much longer before she suddenly snapped her head up, her eyes bright enough to be frightening.

”Killing them means new ones might still appear. Wouldn’t it be better to let someone relatively more reliable occupy the position, keeping them under constant surveillance at all times?”

”Well said.”

A trace of satisfaction finally appeared on the strict Professor Fu’s face.

”I think we may have just discovered a possible motive for why so many different faiths flourished before the Long Night.”